I listened to the first five minutes and wouldn't class the report as sympathetic as such. I think it was more "these two young men have thrown away their lives by committing this crime, what a waste."

> (In reply to Jimbo W)
>
> It was a report about the sentencing, not the crime.
>
> There isn't many opinions in the report, just facts.

That seems quite an odd take on it to me. It's not about opinions vs. facts, it's about angle. The angle of the report is all about the tragedy affecting these two lads, the rapists, whereas it could equally have chosen to focus on the evil of their crime and the affect on the victim. I'm quite surprised that this is ignorable to anyone.

I think it's a bizarre way to report a rape case - I don't want to extrapolate the implications as in "all americans must think that..." but it does not say good things about the social values of the broadcasters and the audience who swallow it.

especially about this idea of their lives being 'ruined' and what criteria that is (or should be) judged on.

It sounds like a serious and prolongued assault, and also - worryingly - it seems at least one of the boys didn't think it counted as rape unless she was conscious (and presumably trying to fight him off).

I can 'understand' the basis of sympathy for these guys.. kids screwed up their lives in a few moments of horrific actions.. but they were 16-17.. not 'kids'.. at that age we knew right from wrong and his response shows he knows the magnitude of what he did.

> (In reply to Jimbo W) CNNs coverage of this story is disturbing.
> The tweets on this page show a lack of sympathy for the victim,
> http://publicshaming.tumblr.com/

reading that, it struck me that most of the people posting were young and they were rabidly anti-alcohol (not to mention casual about rape). The idea seems to be that if you're female and you drink, you want to be raped. Weird beyond words.

In reply to Siward:
and in the comments sectn, swizzle75ian is digging an ever deeper hold for himself as he shows his true cololurs. A true unreconstructed misogynist. I dont know whether to laugh or track him down so I can warn everyone in his immediate circle about him. I bet him mum is proud (!)

In reply to Sarah G: from one report I read it claimed one of the accused mothers was involved with the local prosecutors office and directly pressured the victim not to follow up the rape report... A horrible story and I guess they will soon be on the other end of sexusl assault in Prison.

> especially about this idea of their lives being 'ruined' and what criteria that is (or should be) judged on.
>
> It sounds like a serious and prolongued assault, and also - worryingly - it seems at least one of the boys didn't think it counted as rape unless she was conscious (and presumably trying to fight him off).

> (In reply to Jimbo W) This and the ken barlow incident..
>
> I can 'understand' the basis of sympathy for these guys.. kids screwed up their lives in a few moments of horrific actions.. but they were 16-17.. not 'kids'.. at that age we knew right from wrong and his response shows he knows the magnitude of what he did.

Yes. I'm all for a degree of empathy for what these sh1ts are now facing (is that not the presumed basis of the "deterrent effect") and trying to comprehend some of the reasons why people could do this (because I'm pretty concerned to try and prevent an environment or society occurring where such behaviour can happen and be let happen by onlookers. Turning these guys into victims is something else entirely. They are the victims of their own nasty uncontrolled urges and a lack of empathy for others, they deserve the full penalty of the law, and in my view 1 year is unlikely to achieve much reformation of these characters.

I'm not normally a big fan of Laurie Penny, but that article is superb. Hits the nail on the head.

Why should the sick little bastards involved get any sympathy because they potentially had 'promising careers' playing American Football? They lost any right to sympathy the moment they raped somebody.